Smiling at her, he says, “Remind me never to piss you off!”
“Funny!” Cassie looks at both sides of the pass and back at Dalton. “You need to take the horses and get to the end of the canyon.” She stands looking up at the rock walls and assessing them for the perfect spot. “A hole or ledge will work. The blast should cause a rock slide and fill in the canyon floor.” When she finds a ledge that will work, she carefully climbs up and stuffs a bundle of dynamite inside of it.
“Is this safe?” Dalton asks from behind her and Cassie laughs out loud at his question.
“Hell no, it’s not safe. It’s dynamite!”
“That’s not what I meant, Cassie. I meant for us. Will we have enough time to reach open ground or will it come down on us?” he asks.
“Well, I hope it won’t come down on us.” She returns to her bag and finds the fuse chord and asks Dalton to cut off fifteen feet. Returning to the ledge of rock she places a blasting cap carefully inside the end.
“What’s that for?” he asks, handing her the cord.
“This is a blasting cap, the cord goes inside the end like this.” She backs up slowly lacing the cord along the damp ground. “When I light it, it will run down the cord and into the cap igniting the explosive inside. Judging from the sheer rocks, they will slide downward and fill in the pass at this end. It would take a lot more dynamite than this, to detonate the entire mountainside.”
In her mind, she sees the explosion at her family gold mine, and she shudders. “I swear I don't go around blowing things up for fun, Dalton.” Worry fills her heart that he will think less of her because of her past.
“I know that Cassie, I trust you. Let’s do this. We don’t have much time.” A war cry sounds out, echoing down the narrow trail and she knows they're out of time.
Cassie snatches the knife from his hand and slices off a foot of the fuse from her bag. “We need to move! Go! I'm right behind you!” She hears his horse and the pack horse fading into the distance, and she sighs in relief. She retrieves a second stick and shoves a blasting cap into the end leaving a one-foot fuse. That should buy her a couple of minutes. She mounts her horse and lights the dynamite, then tosses it as hard as she can down the trail. She lights the second fuse and is rewarded with the sizzling sound as the fire runs down the cord to its destination. Cassie turns her horse and rides away as fast as she can.
When the Indians turn the corner behind her, the first explosion rocks the canyon and sends rock flying towards them. Any in the way are blown backward from the pressure of the blast. Some are thrown from their horses while others are covered in mud and debris.
Dalton has just reached the end of the pass when the crash boom of the dynamite echoes down through the rocky walls. He leaps from his horse and runs back screaming Cassie’s name as she comes tearing through the entrance and shouting, “Go!! Go!”
He watches her and the night behind her illuminates in a scarlet eruption of sound and flame. “What the hell!” he jumps on his horse just as she reaches his side, he leads the way. Rain starts to fall softly again, and she calls out,
“Just insurance, Dalton. Don't worry, honey. Fuses are waterproof. They will blow even in the rain.” She rides past the stupefied look on his face, and her laughter joins his when it sounds out.
“Brutal, but effective. How much longer do we have?”
“I bought us time with that first stick, Dalton. How far to the cavern?” He turns the horse down the side of Warriors Peak, and she is surprised to find the whole side seems to slope towards the bottom of the valley.
“Across this valley is Cathedral Peak, on the other side is my land. The canyon is just about two miles up. We should make it before dawn.” He kicks the horse into a run, and she follows, just as the mountain lights up behind them with fire and rock. The horses run as though the devil is at their heels and Cassie lets her horse have his head urging him faster.
The resulting blast rumbles through the mountain and Dalton can feel it in his chest. He leads the way, desperate to make it to Cathedral Peak before sunrise. He knows that this light show will bring all kinds of unwanted attention! Unfortunately, there are much worse things than Indians.
This time when they reach the valley, they do not stop. Dalton pushes the horses and the humans to near exhaustion. Desperation can enable the human body to achieve great things against horrible odds. Ahead of them is Cathedral Peak, and this mountain is much more daunting than the last. Cassie looks up at the snowcapped peaks and moans.
“Two miles, Cassie. We can do it! Follow me.” He guides the horses through snow covered trees, and the brush begins to grow thicker. This mountain is different than the last. It is rockier where the last mountain seemed to be made of slabs of granite stacked in vertical layers. As the sky begins to pour once more, Cassie follows Dalton blindly up the side of the mountain. This time the rain doesn't let up, and the wind picks up. Sharp pieces of ice strike
